* Christ Plus Nothing

Psalm 15:1-5

A psalm of David.

1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?

2 He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart

3 and has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman,

4 who despises a vile man
but honors those who fear the LORD,
who keeps his oath
even when it hurts,

5 who lends his money without usury
and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
will never be shaken.

Imagine what would happen if I walked up to the main gate at Buckingham Palace in London and said to one of the tall, hand-some, well-dressed guards, "Sir, I want to live with the royal family." He would look at me and say, "Begone, before I arrest you."

Who is worthy to live with God? Only through Jesus Christ can we "dwell in God's holy hill." David always was a little bit envious of the priests. When we read the Psalms, we find David saying such things as, "Oh, those priests. They are able to walk in the temple of God. I can't do that. I can't go into the Holy Place."

Spiritually he could, but physically he couldn't. Because we are in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can come boldly into the presence of God, not just to visit Him but to live with Him.

David describes the kind of person who is able to live with God. He must have the right kind of feet ("walks uprightly") and hands ("works righteousness"), lips ("speaks the truth") and heart. What we say with our lips always has to come from our heart. Verse 3 also talks about the tongue: "He who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend."

This is the person God welcomes at His front door and says, "You come and live with Me." That person has clean feet, clean hands and a clean heart that produce clean words and clean motives, one in whose eyes a vile person is despised. His eyes look upon only what is right and good.

Here is a beautiful picture of the kind of person God chooses to live with Him. And the beauty of it is this: Such a person will never get an eviction notice. "He who does these things shall never be moved" (v. 5). How can we be this kind of person? Through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

God welcomes those with clean feet, clean hands and a clean heart. Remember, your worth is founded in Jesus Christ. It is through faith in Him that you are acceptable in the sight of God.

It is a direct blow to man's pride that says he can do nothing to be right with God in his own strength, by doing good works, or trying harder. These are what the religions of the world teach and are lie from the evil one.

Jesus tells us to come as we are. He knows we cannot find peace with God on our own. He died on our behalf as the greatest expression of Love. The way to Christ is humility and confessing hurts, habits, and hang-ups--that we are powerless on our own. Jesus accomplished everything on the cross and nothing can be added. Anything else is a direct assault on what Jesus did for all of us. It is our pride that can still tell us, "Try harder, try to do it on your own, be sufficient on your own strength."

Celebrate Recovery reminds us of this truth;

Realize I'm not God; I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life is unmanageable. --

"Blessed are those who know they are spiritually poor"

The paradox of faith is admitting we cannot be right with God on our own and for those who are true followers of Christ to admit they can't grow to maturity on our own. As one once said, "We came to Christ on our knees and we need to grow in Christ on our knees."